Buford diving!?

[tdmp]

I'll be headed down to cave country next week (after a year) and was hoping to dive Buford cave this time. Does any one know what the current conditions are and, most importantly, directions to get their? Will a single 95 be sufficent to check out the system? We'll be staying in one of Bill's trailers in Mayo and will be in a 4WD vehicle. Please PM the directions if you don't won't to post them here. Also, is Jug Springs currently open? Thanks. Todd

[Signal 20]

just warning you...buford is a pretty long haul from luraville

[billyf]

Buford is in the Chassahowitzka NWR which is just north of Weeki Wachee, the entrance to the NWR is about 10 miles north of SR-50 on HWY 19. the sink is hard to find if you've never been there.

if your in cave country you would have better luck diving:
Madison
PSSP
Little River
Cow
Telford (if the river is down)

FYI
Buford doesn’t have much of a cave (30 to 60 feet) but it is an awesome cavern dive, depth is between 160 and 170ft

[tdmp]

Thanks for the info. Have dove all of the previously mentioned systems plenty of times and would like to add this one for the photo potential. Is there some marker or other landmark to look for once you turn onto the NWR road?

[john]

did buford last friday and a few weeks earlier. the condition in the past week was better then my first visit.

Yes a single 95 will be sufficient if you stay within the no deco limits

The swamp is drying up but you still can sink down to the hip if you mess up a step.

As said up a few posts its quite a drive from luraville.

And Yes there are 3 landmarks in a row I can think of that will give you the imression that you are there.

[bernieflyer]

Like you i'm always curious about dive sites i've never done. There was an article about buford in advanced diver magazine so i found out that its in the same park as Eagle's nest and a long hike in sometimes knee deep mud trails, so i figured better do the nest instead if you're gonna drive that far from Luraville.
By the way i did the nest last sunday (the 12) and vis was over 60 ft....

[DeepSea]

As John said the conditions at Buford have been great recently.

Here is a link to the condition reports - Buford System Page (http://www.tampadiving.com/sections/diving/cave_systems/system.asp?ID=10)

In addition, there is location information on that page as well. If you would like, send me a PM and I can give you some more detailed directions.

[DeepSea]

Here's a crappy picture from 2 weeks ago.

http://www.tampadiving.com/sharing/DSC07243.jpg

[Shadowjack]

You can just make out the big tree, with vis like that you should of called the dive... I can't believe you dove it... I hope you ran a line!

I really need to come back and show you how to dive don't I....

10 days and a wake up!!!

Eric

[DeepSea]

I thought that picture might smoke you out of your hole...

Nice 14th post!

[tdmp]

That's a great picture. I hope the vis holds up next week as well. I'll send you a PM shortly for directions. I would hate to drive all that way and just get lost on some marsh roads because I didn't know the markers.

[john]

Here's a crappy picture from 2 weeks ago.

http://www.tampadiving.com/sharing/DSC07243.jpg

That has got to be the best picture I have ever seen of the system.

[BgDadddy]

Hey John,
When do you want to go dive it again?

Rick

[CaptainSpeleo]

tdmp:

If you've never dived Jug Hole at Ichnetucknee Springs State Park, you need to team up with someone who's dived there. It's a small cave system with a maximum penetration of 580' and a maximum depth of 87'. It requires sidemounts and having to negotiate about a 2' high bedding plane for a distance of about 50' right after you pass the warning sign.

Frank

[DeepSea]

That has got to be the best picture I have ever seen of the system.

Thanks...I was happy with it. I just wish I had a better camera now. That day the sunbeams actually went to the floor. It was pretty impressive. The breakdown on the south side of cavern was completely illuminated.

[DeepSea]

tdmp:

If you've never dived Jug Hole at Ichnetucknee Springs State Park, you need to team up with someone who's dived there. It's a small cave system with a maximum penetration of 580' and a maximum depth of 87'. It requires sidemounts and having to negotiate about a 2' high bedding plane for a distance of about 50' right after you pass the warning sign.

Frank

It is a wonderfully pristine system. The walk is even bearable :D

[Line Squirrel]

The walk is even bearable :D

Prolly why it's still so nice, most won't make the walk. :-D

[Gibby]

One day I would like to get out there but it seems i would have to train more for the walk than i ever did for diving. I know a boadwalk would ruin the security of this place but damn it would make it easier.

[CaptainSpeleo]

Making the 1/4 mile trek from the parking lot to the spring with 100+ pounds of gear on is not my idea of fun.

Whenever we make that dive, we put on our wetsuit john and booties in the parking lot, set the tanks up and load all the gear into a cart, pull it behind us to the spring, chain and lock it to the dock, gear up, then make our dive. This procedure works out real well for us.

[Gibby]

No issues with your cart getting stuck in the mud??

[john]

Hey John,
When do you want to go dive it again?

Rick
Ill do this one many more times so name a time.


No issues with your cart getting stuck in the mud??

when people explain the hike its kind of misleading. there is a road that you walk down for a quarter mile then you gear up and hike for 40 to 50 yards in the mud.

The hike in the swamp sucks when I took my buddy last week he didnt know anything about the place we walked to the edge of the swamp and he just kept walking and muuuussshhh. "well I just lost my shoe..." I laughed and headed back to rig up and I hear "well there went the other one".

[curtschu]

I think the thread got changed to Jug hole and I missed it. There is no way you can get a cart all the way to the spring at Buford and I didn't see a dock. so I think he is talking about Jug Hole.

Curt

[john]

I think the thread got changed to Jug hole and I missed it. There is no way you can get a cart all the way to the spring at Buford and I didn't see a dock. so I think he is talking about Jug Hole.

Curt

my mistake I guess I didnt see the change in direction either.

you are right Ive never done jugg so I should have noticed the dock thing.


sorry
john

[MikeH]

I think the thread got changed to Jug hole and I missed it. There is no way you can get a cart all the way to the spring at Buford and I didn't see a dock. so I think he is talking about Jug Hole.

Curt

Yes, the cart/dock comment was in reference to Jug Hole. There's a good trail there that you can haul a cart down, and the only place getting it stuck in the mud could be an issue(unless it's rained heavily recently) is in the last 50-75ft, where the trail dips down before the wood deck begins.

Mike

VIS even better today (Thurs).... I don't think it can get any better than now... near perfect... You can see the whole cavern without lights (assuming you dive it during the day...)

[metaldector]

CurtSchu and I dove it Sunday. We were the only divers there. That hauling the gear down the road was tough, the hike thru the swamp wasn't too bad as the water is nearly all gone. Jump from root to root and avoid the flat areas. Oh, and be on the lookout for SNAKES. We saw some rather fat large snakes, both in the swamp and on logs in the water.
The cavern was WAY COOL. One of the best I've ever dove. The pictures earlier in this tread are exactly how it looked. Beautiful.

[curtschu]

Btw I looked up those snakes that we saw. They were very very likely Florida Banded Water Snakes. Please don't kill these guys if you go out there they are harmless. Best way to tell is the head the Banded head is tappered into the body and the cotton mouth has the flare at the jaw.

Anyway great dive.

http://cavediver.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=5119&cat=all&page=1

[Shadowjack]

Just a thought, Wouldn’t it be nice to have a table at the end of the road just before the swamp? I’m not talking about a wooden picnic table, I’m thinking a concrete table so no one could turn it into fire wood or a deer stand. As far as that goes maybe replace the broken ones at Eagles Nest with concrete also… I know there are people on here that know the Park manages..

Just a thought….


( 5 days and a wake up! )
Eric

[phreaticus]

As one who has dove Buford sink since 1978 (yep, 28 years ago!), I find it laughable that you think there should be a table at the end of the tramway, that the walk is too hard, and that you need more than a 95 to do the dive (last time I was there we did :30 min. BT, with :11 min deco (19 cyl.w/O2) and had over 1000 psi left in my single after surfacing. If you can't do it on this amount of gas you have other issues than the "arduous" walk! Like get in shape, knock down your SAC rate, and enhance your diving skills! PLEASE!
The cavern is only 160 ft. deep, most of the dive is above 140, the cavern is not that big that you need more time to see it all in :20-:25 min, at a liesurely swimming pace. and the walk is easy now that there are red reflectors on the trees guiding you to the sink (aprox. 50 yds) from the end of the tramway.
I'm of the opinion that Buford is one of the only pristine places left to dive in the whole State...if you can't tread softly, and leave as little impact as you go there....leave it alone! Stay at all the parks where they have steps, entry fees, rules, and CROWDS!
Buford is what freshwater diving in Florida once was, unfortunately, I see it going the way of all other sites...controlled, patrolled, pay-per-use, overused, and markedly diminished from it's original beauty.
But oh well, that the way all of Florida will inevitably go...so, on the other hand......go for it, while it's still gorgeous!
Walt is right, btw, if you hit it on a sunny day, at the right time when the sun angle is right, the 20 ft. across "skylight" that hits the breakdown pile at 100 ft. is one of the most awesome sights in diving...I took Will Walters, who discovered the place in 1974, in there two years ago...he sat on a big boulder at 90 ft. late in the dive, mesmerized by the beauty of the sun barrel lazering down all over the white limestone .

[Limestone Cowboy]

Well said Steve. I'm still not sure I like the steps at the Nest even....

BTW...I noticed a drill rig doing borings in the property around Rock Sink off Ridge Rd last week. The developers are going to pave this state over with houses it seems. I just cannot wait until Lake Whorl (sp?) floods again and puts them all 3 feet under. Can't believe someone would build on that swamp.

Best Regards, Drew

[tdmp]

I just got back from a week of cave diving and, unfortunately, didn't get to go to Buford but I did go to Jug Hole (sorry to switch the topic again). Man, that is a really good dive. The system is pristine and each room is different from the other. Comparing previous posts I've read about the system to my two dives there, here's my two cents:

- A cart is HIGHLY reccommended to ferry your gear from the parking lot
(we had one but forgot the chain).
- If you make the dive on a single cylinder (sidemounts reccommended), stay to the left (main line on the right) of the bedding plane and take your time in picking your path. You'll need to cant your body 45 degrees to the side to get through.
- The diamond sands restriction is easy as long as you lay down flat on the sand before attempting to push through.
- The side profile map of the spring doesn't show the last two rooms past the diamond restriction, which are impressive.
- Expect to be asked about twenty times in the parking lot " Are you guys go'n dive'n?" while suiting up.

Now if I could just find Buford....